Noah Urda is the 2023 FIM Track Racing Youth Gold Trophy winner after the fast French rider clinched a dramatic victory at Gdańsk in Poland this afternoon with the battle for the top step of the podium only decided in the twenty-fourth and final Heat.
Building on the experience he earned in last year’s event when he raced to eighth in Pardubice in the Czech Republic, Urda simply did not put a wheel wrong all afternoon. Heading into the concluding Heat race of the afternoon with three wins from three starts, he knew nothing other than victory would guarantee him the big prize and he rose to the occasion, sealing the deal by sweeping to a perfect twelve-point unbeaten total.
Open to riders aged between eleven and sixteen years of age on 125cc machines, the FIM Track Racing Youth Gold Trophy is regarded as an important step on the ladder for riders hoping to carve a career in the sport and Urda’s dominant victory indicates a bright future for the rising young star.
He was forced to fight all the way with last year’s third-placed rider Thies Schweer. The thirteen-year-old from Germany only tasted defeat once all afternoon after being forced into second place in his third Heat, but dropping just one point had a crucial effect on the eventual outcome.
Schweer’s three wins and a second in his Heat races were matched by Ukrainian rider Makar Levishyn – who was fourth last year – and Seth Norman from Britain which meant there was a run-off for the final podium positions which went to Schweer ahead of Levishyn and left Norman off the box.
The fight for the top positions was incredibly close and competitive all afternoon with just the slightest mistake severely punished as the ambitious and hungry young riders battled hard in the historic city on the shores of the Baltic Sea.
The highest ranked home rider was Mieszko Mudło whose two wins and two second-placed finishes were not quite enough to earn himself a place in the podium run-off and he finished in fifth and it was a similar story for his compatriot Jakub Plutowski who he beat on a tie-break after the Polish pairing were locked together on ten points each.
Heat wins were also claimed by Germany’s Mike Jarczewski, Krzysztof Harendarczyk and Franciszek Szczyrba from Poland and the Czech Republic’s Karel Prusa, but at the end of the afternoon it was Urda who took the top step of the podium thanks to his perfect performance.
FIM Communications